As I lay here watching the sand
fall one piece at a time down the proverbial space known as time, and the rain
drops soak through the earth, layer by layer, I ponder each moment passing one
by one without fail. There is no rubber stopper for life that puts it on hold
as you try to figure out where you’re going or where you want to be. It pours
down the rusty metal pipe at a constant, never-changing rate. You cannot grasp
any that has already fallen below, nor can you see what lies above. The metal
walls offer no protection from the raging movement, nor any matter worth
attempting to grasp on to. It would be fruitless to capture the ability to see
what lies ahead or behind. And we are not endowed the prospect of that
information. Time is a compelling concept. Defined as the indefinite continued progress of existence and events
in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. It alone is what our
whole human existence revolves around. I could not say how often I look at the
clock in a day, but more than I could fathom being reasonable, considering that
time is not real. Sure, you can count to sixty Mississippi, but then what?
Sixty Mississippi’s passed, but you cannot occupy them. They are already gone.
They are nothing. They don’t exist except in our mind. The clock on the wall
moves and changes numbers, yet even if it stopped, our journey would never
cease until the brink of death.
Life will keep moving. Seasons will
change. Hair will gray and dissolve. And there is no process we can achieve to
stop it. Might as well make it worth the effort. Some say that we should live
in the moment. We already do that. We are unquestionably living in each moment.
It is whether or not we keep our minds in the moment that makes the difference.
I am living this moment right now, but perhaps my mind is living in the moments
that have passed years ago. While we cannot physically live in moments of the
future or the past, our mind can. And that is both a blessing and a tragedy. Both
memory and anxiety of the future are necessary tools for survival. Nevertheless
we should not live in these. We should use them as tools to move on the unexpected
trails our bodies take. We cannot find our purpose in life if we are dwelling
on the past or imagining false futures. At this present moment, we cannot
change a single thing that will or will not happen in the future, nor can we
change or replace anything that has happened in the past.
The clock ticks, the sand falls. In
one breath, out another. Look at this moment for what it is. Not what it isn’t.
It is a delicate and significant occasion that can never be replicated. Notice the
colors and textures that surround you. Breathe in the scent of the glorious
oxygen that allows us to be here in this instance. Auscultate the independent
beating of the heart. Appreciate the life that is not to be taken for granted. Do
not be entangled in this invention of time. Eternity will pass with or without
perpetual eyes wary of its progress. Indeed, there will be junctures for which
note of the passage will be necessary. Be mindful and sparing of those periods.
Time will tempt you with its seductive teeth that want to grip on to your every
second here on earth. Do not let time trick you. Savor this moment before it
has departed.
